GLEN RIDGE, NJ — The Women’s Club of Glen Ridge hosted its annual “My Favorite Doll Tea Party” on Sunday afternoon, March 18. Although there is no recorded date of when the fundraiser began, several women involved this year estimated 15 years. Proceeds from ticket sales and raffle prizes were to be donated to various charities.
“We expect to raise $7,500 and will give it back to the community,” said Dayna Nicles, the event chairwoman.
Also overseeing the party were Shilpa Patel and Barbara Kalemkerian, of the Ways and Means Committee of the women’s club.
The afternoon tea is only for girls still young enough to carry a doll without people staring. Traditionally they attend with their mothers and about 97 percent of the girls came that way. But there were dads, too — about three. Matt Doyle was with daughters Rose and Alice, plus Anna, the girls’ mother. Jim Kincade had daughters Eloise and Blythe. They sat with Ben Krecidlo and his daughter, Helen.
Scarlett Slavin was accompanied by her Aunt Susannah Russell, plus her mother, Melissa Slavin. It was a young crowd at the tables on the level so a few grandmothers were distinguishable.
In addition to tea, soft drinks, tea sandwiches and pastry, there was a raffle for a variety of toys and doll accessories. Across the hall, handmade doll clothing was on sale for a very reasonable price. And upstairs, in the ballroom, Girls’ Club members of the Women’s Club gave dolls a new hairdo.
Belle, from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” was portrayed by another Girls’ Club member, Lily Nicles, a senior at Glen Ridge High School. She read to the children. Girls’ Club members also worked as waitresses.
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